LEON BRITTON believes Michael Laudrup’s new-look Swansea City side is becoming a Premier League force to be reckoned with, writes Tim Lewis.

LEON BRITTON believes Michael Laudrup’s new-look Swansea City side is becoming a Premier League force to be reckoned with, writes Tim Lewis.

The long-serving midfielder says people are now seeing the real Swansea following a summer of change at the Liberty Stadium.

Laudrup replaced Brendan Rodgers in June and the Swans have undergone a big transformation from the side who finished 11th in the top flight last season.

Having splashed out millions on the likes of Pablo Hernandez, Ki Sung-Yueng, Chico Flores and Michu in the summer, Britton admits it’s taken a while for the squad to gel together.

But after securing an impressive 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday, Britton says things are progressing nicely under the new manager.

Britton said: “It does always take a little while for a manager to stamp his authority on a team – to get his ideas across. You work in pre-season, but then you have a block of 10 games and he can get his ideas across, then review them so he can change things.

“This is definitely a Laudrup team and you can say he has had four or five months working on the training ground to get us where we want to be.

“We got fantastic results at the start of the season, then had a dodgy run as you know but we’re still new to this league and there’s going to be time when you get a run of three or four games where you don’t pick up any wins.

“But the main thing is you keep belief.

“We’ve shown that against three top-quality teams that we can perform. This will give us confidence going into the next few games.”

Hernandez scored two minutes from time to snatch a point for Swansea on Saturday, firing low past Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech from the edge of the box.

The 27-year-old is now showing the form that persuaded Swansea to part with a club record £5.55m for the winger in the summer.

While fellow Spanish forward Michu was an instant hit at the Liberty Stadium it has taken Hernandez a little longer to settle.

He is now keeping Nathan Dyer, who has been one of Swansea’s best players over the last two seasons, out of the Swansea starting line-up.

Britton said: “We showed great character to come back from a goal down and Pablo has produced a great bit of skill and a great finish.

“It’s always difficult coming in from a different league and country. It does take time to settle.

“Some players hit the ground quicker than others and you can see his quality every day in training.

“He is settling in a bit more and his finish was fantastic against Chelsea. Nathan got a great reception when he came on and it just shows the quality we have with a player like that on the bench.

“It did raise us. It gave our crowd a lift and that can help, especially when you are a goal down.”

Swansea’s point against Chelsea kept them in 11th place in the Premier League and well clear of the relegation places currently occupied by Reading, Southampton and Queens Park Rangers.

The Swans could put more daylight between themselves at the bottom half with a win over struggling Southampton at St Mary’s this weekend.

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